Dear Chair Keith Agaran, Vice Chair Rhoads, and Members of the House Committee:

Aloha, my name is Carmille Lim, board member and Voter Services Chair of the League of Women Voters of Hawaii, and I thank you for this opportunity to testify on behalf of our
members thrciughout Hawaii.

On behalf of the League, I am respectfully submitting my testimony in support of HB1755. This
bill would establish an online system for electronic voter registration, which would allow eligible
voters to register entirely online instead of using hard-copy paper forms. If implemented, we can
expect to see a decrease in monies spent on paper forms and an increase in voter registration
and turnout.

There are currently 12 states that have implemented online voter registration, and we hope that
Hawaii will soon follow. The League of Women Voters of Hawaii supports this bill for the
following 4 reasons:

I . Online voter registration is cost-effective and saves states millions of dollars
each year:
• In recent years, states like California, Louisiana, Indiana, and Colorado have
implemented the reform to great success — and this has also resulted in
significant savings. For example: in Maricopa County, Arizona, processing an
online voter registration now costs the state 3 cents, compared to 83 cents for
each paper registration. Due to its popularity, online registration has helped
reduce printing costs by 75% in the county. Washington State has also
experienced a similar cost reduction at both the state and county level.
Washington’s Secretary of State’s office (Washington’s Secretary of State serves
as the state’s chief elections officer) reports saving 25 cents per online
application, while counties have saved anywhere from 50 cents to $2 with each
application.1
• Additionally, it cost Arizona less than $130,000 and Washington state
$279,000 to implement both online voter registration and automated voter
registration at DMVs.2

2. Streamlines the registration process for election officials:• Online voter registration ensures that citizens’ information goes directly to
election officials, thus reducing the number of people who have to handle a
registration application. This greatly reduces the chances for human and data
entry errors.
• Allowing Hawaii residents to register to vote or update their registrations online
would likely reduce the number of provisional ballots cast at the polls, which
can prove costly and time-consuming to process.

3. Would likely increase the accuracy of voter lists:• Again, online voter registration would significantly reduce the data entry work
county officials must do to process new registrations.
• Hawai’i already has an electronic record of the signature for most people with a
Hawai’i state driver’s license or state-issued ID card. So by transferring electronic
data between the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Office of Elections, we
can allow people to register to vote online without the delays and errors that can
occur when mailing in a handwritten paper form which then has to be entered by
hand into a registration database.

4. Due to its convenience, online voter registration would likely increase voter
participation, especially from those of the “younger” generation:• Completing an online voter registration form makes it easier for many voters to
register-- particularly among the “younger” generation and those who spend
more time online.
• In 2003, Arizona was the first state to implement Online Voter Registration,
and reported an improvement in voter turnout-- greatest among young voters.
In 2008, voters under 34 years old who registered online turned out at 93
percent compared to a 73 percent turnout rate for younger voters who
registered “offline.”3
• Registration rates among 18-24 year-old citizens rose from 28 to 53
percent after Arizona introduced online and automated registration.
2

In these tough times, online voter registration is an important step in making voter registration
more modern and cost-effective. We support the online voter registration to register new voters
and allow existing voters to update their registrations online.

The League of Women Voters of Hawaii humbly asks for you to support this bill, too.